Nonprofits struggle to house illegal aliens in San Diego

The federal government is dropping off migrant families at Greyhound bus stations throughout San Diego and local humanitarian organizations don’t have enough space or resources to care for them.

On Wednesday, the San Diego Rapid Response Network — a coalition of human rights, service and faith-based organizations — asked for local and regional representatives to help them secure a permanent shelter for these migrant families while calling attention to a GoFundMe campaign to raise $150,000.

“We can no longer do it alone,” said Norma Chavez-Peterson, Executive Director of the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties.

The campaign, which started Nov. 15, has raised closed to $90,000.

Since Oct. 25, about 1,700 migrants have gone through the Rapid Response Network’s emergency shelters. Because the coalition doesn’t have a permanent location, they’ve had to move the shelter five times in the last six weeks.

None of the asylum seekers have yet come from a Central American migrant caravan that arrived in Tijuana in November.

The emergency shelter allows families to stay for an average of about 48 hours while they coordinate travel arrangements with relatives and costs about $350,000 a month to maintain, said Chavez-Peterson.

The Rapid Response Network set up the emergency shelter when the federal government announced the end of their “Safe Release” program, which gave migrant families seeking asylum a couple of days to locate friends or family members in the U.S. and finalize travel arrangements.

On the night of Oct. 25, the Rapid Response Network received a phone call on their 24-hour hotline from a person who said they saw a DHS van drop of about 30 migrants at a Greyhound bus station at Commerce and 13th streets in downtown San Diego, Chavez-Peterson said.

Since then, about 200 volunteers spent two weeks visiting Greyhound stations in El Cajon, San Diego and San Ysidro to pick up more asylum-seeking migrant families. Four weeks ago, the federal government began coordinating drop off schedules with the coalition.

But some people still fall through the cracks, shelter representatives said.

“In one instance, there was a mother with I believe a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old that somehow we missed,” Chavez-Peterson said. “She had to spend the night in this alley in San Ysidro and a janitor from the McDonald’s called the hotline.”

Members of the coalition were scheduled to meet with representatives from the city and county of San Diego Wednesday.They are asking for a permanent shelter, at least for the next three months, with enough capacity for 200 people.

The coalition also needs resources to help run the emergency operation, which is where the GoFundMe campaign comes in.

“The money is being used for some staffing, it’s being used to rent porta-potties, it’s being used to pay for some of the security,” Chavez-Peterson said. “Folks are getting a little bit of cash, many are on the bus for three or five days. Most of them are east of the Mississippi.”

If government or civil leaders don’t step up and fund the coalition, hundreds of migrant families will have nowhere to go.

“If the organizations hadn’t stepped in we would’ve had 1,700 people out in the streets of San Diego in the last six weeks,” Chavez-Peterson said.

Contact Gustavo Solis via Email or Twitter

___

(c)2018 The San Diego Union-Tribune

Visit The San Diego Union-Tribune at www.sandiegouniontribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

—-

This content is published through a licensing agreement with Acquire Media using its NewsEdge technology.

VN:D [1.9.6_1107]

Rating: 6.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Nonprofits struggle to house illegal aliens in San Diego, 6.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

10 Comments

The Union Buffoon prints, “If government or civil leaders don’t step up and fund the coalition, hundreds of migrant families will have nowhere to go.” This is of course another lie. These illegal aliens can always go home.

Can anyone see the hand of the leftist democrat progressives and their long stage goal in what is happening in America now .
The massive illegal immigrant hordes have overcome the abilities of welfare and private charities to continue to provide aid to this massive invasion that is only getting worse and impossible to deal with. Although the progressive democrats demand that America let all aliens who attempt to cross the countries borders be allowed to enter the country. Are we to believe that these progressive democrats only feel compassionate for these aliens and have no other intent in mind when they tout the alien’s cause. Only the naïve could possibly believe this or believe that is their only objectives of the democrats in Washington, if this be the case, they are must be too illiterate to hold the positions that they hold.
” First proposed in 1966 and named after Columbia University sociologists Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, the “Cloward-Piven Strategy” seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse…..”
The Cloward-Piven Strategy to implement socialist revolution
Isn’t this the real purpose of these progressive, Hate America, Politicians and other leftist elite to bring America Down, Communist George Soros once said that was his objectives.

What you are describing is a broad, systemic attack against our nation.

This should be treated as a military threat. People like Soros should be hunted down by the CIA for masterminding this attack. We’d do the same during the Cold War for any Russian trying to kill thousands by poisoning our drinking water. Illegal invaders are killing thousands. It’s the same.

Definitely eliminate all Welfare type benefits for immigrants. If you come here, you’re coming here to work. We have enough lazy bums that were born here.

Churches and other charitable organizations will be allowed to help the poor and needy among the legal immigrants. Why not? We’re compassionate people. They will NOT be allowed to give aid and comfort to alien invaders. Any such places will be raided. Ignorance is not an option.

E-Verify everywhere in the USA. We don’t want the illegals here at all. With no handouts and no jobs, they will leave. Legal immigrants can have jobs and private handouts. No problem.

And as always, any “sanctuary” states or cities will lose all federal funding and representation. We can’t trust you to know who’s legal and who isn’t. We must assume you’re all illegal until you prove otherwise.

If CA is a sanctuary, then a CA driver’s license will not be considered real ID anywhere else in the country. We’ll need to detain you until we can cross-check your SSN and with the federal criminal database. Pulled over for running a stop sign? We don’t care. We need to make sure you’re not an illegal claiming sanctuary in CA.

New tent cities in the most “red state” parts of Texas, where we can process the potential illegals. None of this nonsense where they slip back into the population.

Anyone potential illegals their court date will be rejected from any possible future citizenship. If caught again, they will be tattooed on their faces so cops can identify them instantly. Anyone with the face tattoos will be arrested on sight. Any “sympathizers” who get the same tattoos out of solidarity will also be arrested and detained for a week or so each time. Basically make their life harsh.

Anyone with the tattoos trying to rush the border Wall will be shot on sight.

VA:F [1.9.6_1107]

please wait...

Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

ltuser

4:07 pm December 11, 2018 at 4:07 pm

Dr G.. For a # of years, i’ve been wondering WHY the other 49 states, are obligatd to accept CA drivers licenses as proper Proof of ID, when so many millions are handed out to illegal invaders AND id theft out there is rampant.

Please give these illegals George Soros’s address, also Tim Cook’s. Meryl Streep’s and a few others. I’m sure they will not mind and would be honored to help.
Just kidding, get them all out of the USA.

"Words have specific meanings. Electrons are never "generated", not by a steam powered turbine, or a water powered turbine or a wind powered turbine! Believing so indicates a profound ignorance of the details of physics. Electrons exist everywhere in the environment. They can be "separated". by investing some kind of work. The work done on an electric charge..."Comment by 4drphil
Posted in Battery cars pose significant hazards